Depending on whom you ask, whole eggs are either incredibly nutritious or harmful for your health.
On one hand, they’re considered an excellent and inexpensive source of protein and various nutrients. On the other hand, some people believe the yolks can increase your risk of heart disease.
So, are eggs beneficial or harmful for your health? This article explores both sides of the argument.
Why are eggs sometimes considered unhealthy?
Whole eggs have two main components:
- Egg white: the white part, which is mostly protein
- Egg yolk: the yellow or orange part, which is rich in nutrients
The main reason eggs were considered unhealthy in the past is that the yolks are high in cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in food. It’s also made by your body. A few decades ago, large studies linked high blood cholesterol to heart disease.
In 1961, the American Heart Association recommended limiting dietary cholesterol. Many other international health organizations did the same.
Over the next several decades, worldwide egg consumption decreased significantly. Many people replaced eggs with cholesterol-free egg substitutes that were promoted as a healthier option.
Summary
For several decades, eggs were believed to increase heart disease risk because of their high cholesterol content.
It’s true that whole eggs are high in cholesterol
Whole eggs (with the yolks) are indeed high in cholesterol. In fact, they’re a significant source of cholesterol in the standard American diet.
Two large whole eggs (100 grams) contain about 411 mg of cholesterol (1Trusted Source). By contrast, 100 grams of 30% fat ground beef has about 78 mg of cholesterol (2Trusted Source).
Until recently, the recommended maximum daily intake of cholesterol was 300 mg per day. It was even lower for people with heart disease.
However, based on the latest research, health organizations in many countries no longer recommend restricting cholesterol intake.
For the first time in decades, the Dietary Guidelines for AmericansTrusted Source released in December 2015 did not specify an upper daily limit for dietary cholesterol.
Despite this change, many people remain concerned about consuming eggs. This is because they’ve been conditioned to associate high dietary cholesterol intake with high blood cholesterol and heart disease.
However, just because a food is high in cholesterol doesn’t necessarily mean it raises cholesterol levels in your blood.
Summary
Two large whole eggs contain 411 mg of cholesterol, which exceeds the maximum daily limit that was in place for many decades. However, this restriction on dietary cholesterol has now been lifted.
How eating eggs affects blood cholesterol
Although it may seem logical that dietary cholesterol would raise blood cholesterol levels, it usually doesn’t work that way.
Your liver actually produces cholesterol in large amounts because cholesterol is a necessary nutrient for your cells.
When you eat larger amounts of high cholesterol foods, such as eggs, your liver produces less cholesterol because more of it is coming from your diet (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
Conversely, when you get little cholesterol from food, your liver produces more to compensate.
Because of this, blood cholesterol levels don’t change significantly in most people when they eat more cholesterol from foods (Trusted Source4Trusted Source).
In one long-term, well-designed study, consuming egg yolks daily for 1 year did not significantly change total cholesterol, LDL (bad) or HDL cholesterol, or the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL (an important marker of heart disease) in adults with early signs of age-related macular degeneration (5Trusted Source).
However, one review of well-designed studies in healthy individuals found that eating cholesterol-containing foods raised both LDL (bad) and HDL cholesterol, but the ratio of LDL to HDL (an important marker of heart disease risk) remained constant compared with the control group (6Trusted Source).
Likewise, in another study, 30 people who ate 3 eggs per day for 13 weeks had higher total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL (bad) cholesterol compared with those who took only a choline supplement.
However, their HDL to LDL ratio remained the same (7Trusted Source). The study’s authors concluded that eating foods high in cholesterol regulates the amount of cholesterol your body makes in order to maintain the HDL to LDL ratio.
Also, keep in mind that cholesterol isn’t a “bad” substance. It is actually involved in various processes in your body, such as:
- production of vitamin D
- production of steroid hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone
- production of bile acids, which help digest fat
Last but not least, cholesterol is an essential component of every cell membrane in your body, making it necessary for survival.
